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KLRU’s June fundraising drive will focus on your favorite programs and we need your help to choose what to air. Vote for your favorite episodes of Overheard with Evan Smith and Arts in Contexthere.

Help KLRU raise $75,000 in one week by supporting what you love about your local PBS station: Antiques Roadshow, Masterpiece Mystery, Austin City Limits, Nova, PBS Newshour and more. We’re keeping the regular, weekly schedule intact and are looking forward to seeing which Overheard and Arts in Context episodes you vote for!

“The year is 1933. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Molly Sloan and her intrepid research assistant Timmy Mendez team up with a mysterious librarian from Flagstaff, Arizona, named Ben Wilcott. Together, they travel from Rumania to Scotland to the Alps to Tunis to the Robot Planet and finally to Imperial Zygon to defeat a terrible threat to the very future of humanity: an invading force of sludge-monsters from outer space known as the Zygonians.”

This month’s episode of Arts In Context will take us inside the unique production of the Live-Action Graphic Novel that is the Intergalactic Nemesis. Projecting the artwork from the original comic-book story panel-by-panel, while three actors voiced the characters, one performer created sound-effects, and a keyboardist performed the score, The Intergalactic Nemesis, Book One: Target Earth was an instant sensation when it debuted in the Long Center in 2010. Since then it has been featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” “Conan,” and is now on a world tour.

Arts In Context has been closely following the Intergalactic Nemesis crew behind the scenes of their rising production of Book One: Target Earth for the past few months. Full of striking images and interviews, this episode captures the creative process of the Intergalactic crew. But on this episode Arts In Context is trying something new. The crew is collaborating with documentary filmmaker Anton Curley, using footage from his upcoming film, Nemesis Rising. Nemesis Rising is a feature length film on the Intergalactic Nemesis that follows the crew through their history, their first national tour, and into their future from Volume 2 and beyond. In combination with the documentary that Arts In Context has been working on, this episode will tell the story of the the Intergalactic Nemesis crew from their small beginnings to their debut in Broadway earlier in April. This collaboration will make for a unique episode of Arts in Context that cannot be missed.

Make sure to tune in on Thursday, April 25th at 7:30 pm to take an intimate behind the scenes look at the Live-Action Graphic Novel on Arts in Context: Intergalactic Nemesis.

To see if the Intergalactic Nemsis is coming to you check out on their tour schedule.

Chithra Jeyaram’s award winning short documentary titled Mijo (My Son) will be featured in an episode of Arts In Context airing on February 28th. The episode, Hold My Hand, follows Sharon Marroquin, an Award-winning dancer and choreographer whose life drastically changed when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. In this episode of Arts In Context, Marroquín explores the relation between the choreographer and the dancer as she uses her art as an expression of her personal struggle.

Jeyaram’s film will be featured after the documentary on Marroquin. Mijo (My Son) is an immensely personal documentary about the relationship between a young mother who is a professional dancer and her 6-year old son, as she undergoes treatment for breast cancer.more →

The Miró Quartet, an internationally performing classical string quartet based in Austin, performs an all-Schubert program in KLRU’s historic Studio 6A. The performance will be part of an Arts In Context episode airing on March 28.

Hailed by the New York Times as possessing “explosive vigor and technical finesse”, the dynamic Miró Quartet, one of America’s highest-profile chamber groups enjoys its place at the top of the international chamber music scene. Now in its second decade, the quartet continues to captivate audiences and critics around the world with its startling intensity, fresh perspective, and mature approach.

The Miró Quartet is the Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Texas Austin and its members – violinists Daniel Ching and William Fedkenheuer, violist John Largess, and cellist Joshua Gindele – are on the faculty of the Butler School of Music.

The Miró Quartet has released several recordings, most recently a disc featuring live performances of works by Dvorak and Kevin Puts. Other releases include the Op. 18 quartets of Beethoven on the Vanguard Classics label as well as a disc featuring music by George Crumb and Rued Langgaard for Bridge Records. The Miró Quartet’s recording of Crumb’s Black Angels received much international acclaim, including the French “Diapason d’Or”. The Miró Quartet is also featured on an Oxingale release entitled “Epilogue”, performing Mendelssohn’s final string quartet (Op. 80) and Schubert’s Quintet with celebrated cellist Matt Haimovitz.

Celebrate Arts In Context with a season three kick-off party. The new season of the award-winning arts show begins on Oct. 25th with a documentary on Austin’s Mother Falcon. KLRU is hosting a party to celebrate the event!

Arts In Context season three explores the process of creation through collaboration and the condition of living and working as an artist. By spotlighting visual arts, dance, music and culture, we hope to pique curiosity and inspire people to learn more about a subject, visit an exhibition, attend a performance or create and share something beautiful of their own and facilitate the dialogue between artists and audiences. Episodes air Thursdays at 7:30 pm on KLRU and are available everywhere on the PBS iPhone app and iPad app.

The new season begins airing on Oct. 25th with a documentary on the inspiring story of one of Austin’s beloved bands, Mother Falcon. Featuring performances and in-depth interviews, Arts in Context takes you inside the 21-member band’s journey from aspiring, high school musicians to the popular band they have become today, and the challenges they now face trying to break onto the national stage. Watch a preview of the Mother Falcon episode on klru.org/artsincontext.

Thursday, September 27, Arts in Context explores some of Austin’s best contemporary and performance art featured in this year’s Fusebox Festival. Featured is Austin’s own Les RAV and composer Travis Weller, both showcasing unique local talent. Also featured is Jennifer Sherburn, a dancer and composer whose innovative style brings to the stage a non-traditional form of Austin art. Fusebox Festival features not only Austin’s best artists, but also showcases some of the most interesting national and international artists, like Singer/Songwriter Holcombe Waller (Portland), the electronic folk duo, Lulacruza (Colombia and Argentina), and choreographer David Zambrano’s (Venezuela).

Fusebox Festival is a space where artists and audiences can take risks, ask questions and explore ideas together, break rules and blur boundaries. The 2012 festival features a great mix of local and international talent performing theater, dance, and music.

There are countless ways to support Austin’s creative sector. Attending opening night at a theater, playing in a band, taking an improv class. Creativity is what makes Austin unique…so what do *you* do that keeps creativity alive?

Tell us how you keep creativity alive in Austin. Make a quick video and upload it to YouTube. Tag it “CivicSummitCreativity” and your comments may be used in our upcoming broadcast.

Join KLRU and other arts organizations as we explore the economic and cultural importance of the arts in Austin. Civic Summit: Arts in Context examines the economic impact of Austin’s creative sector, what it takes to live and work as an artist, and the future of arts in Austin.

Leaders and art professionals representing a diverse range of Austin organizations will discuss the state of the arts in Austin. Hear perspectives from groups like Health Alliance for Austin Musicians and The Long Center for the Performing Arts, City of Austin and learn about resources available for artists and plans for the future.

This Civic Summit taping will be broadcast on KLRU Thursday, August 23, at 7:30 pm. It will be available online after this date at klru.org/civicsummit

KLRU will be rebroadcasting Arts In Context: Jorge Caballero on August 2 at 7 pm. The episode features Peruvian classical guitarist Caballero, along with the Miró Quartet and the Classical Guitar Orchestra, performing their Modest Mussorgsky’s masterpiece suite “Pictures At An Exhibition” entitled “Austin Pictures.”

Caballero is the youngest musician and only guitarist to win the Naumberg International Competition, an award comparable to the Pulitzer, but for musicians. The Miró Quartet are currently the Faculty String Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Texas at Austin and one of America’s most important chamber music groups. The episode is an incredible showcase of impressive talent and musicianship and is not to be missed.

Jorge Caballero and the Miró Quartet will be performing perform live on Saturday, August 4th, at Dell Hall at The Long Center for the Performing Arts. They will reunite to perform a program of Mozart, Paganini, Bach, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Not only will you be captivated by the music, but the Alamo Drafthouse’s Beverage Manager, Bill Norris, will be concocting splendid cocktails – one for each member of the performing ensemble – in the Kodosky Lounge, beginning at 6 pm. The show begins at 7:30 pm. Tickets and more information can be found at the Austin Classical Guitar’s web site.